Keeping track of all of your internal medicine patients eventually gets complicated. Once you have a thriving internal medicine practice, the number of patients that come and go from your office is almost blinding. You need internal medicine EHR software to keep up. If you are not sure your practice is ready for practice-specific software, here are five benefits that will convince you otherwise.

Perfectly Organized Files for Every Patient

Paper files are such a thing of the past. Every patient's records will be much more organized in electronic health records (EHR) software. It does not matter how large or extensive the file; it will fit inside the software program with no difficulties. You cannot do that with a paper file. Once a paper file become too thick, you have to start a second paper file for that patient, and then things just get messier from there.

Files Within Files

Imagine opening a patient file and finding several tabs. Each tab is a year, and each year records every visit and any diagnoses or medications you prescribed for that patient. You can click forward or backward inside the patient file for any information you need, without having to search or dig through archived paper files to find it. You can do that with this software program.

HIPAA Compliance

HIPAA expects that every doctor, nurse, and practitioner keep every patient's records confidential. Non-compliance can result in fines, investigations into your practice, and suspension of your license. EHR software is automatically compliant with HIPAA's policies on patient confidentiality, because all of the patient files are password protected on your computer systems.

Anyone trying to see a patient file would have to get past the password screen, and then have to figure out how to move through the software to find a patient file. By that time, the "e-intruder" would be caught. As for anyone trying to hack through on a computer, he or she would have to crack through the firewalls that come with the software and your computer system's own firewalls.

Quick and Easy Installation

This software is also quick and easy to install. If you are transferring patient files over from another type of electronic program, there is a way to download complete files, often one at a time or in small batches, until all of your patient files are in the new software. It is fairly common for doctors to begin their practices by using just Word and Excel to keep track of patient files and billing, but really there is not a whole lot of security and organization in this approach. However, patient files do transfer better from an electronic source rather than attempting to scan and upload paper files into the program.

If you need help setting up the program and transferring files, ask for tech support. Better yet, hire a medical software expert. He or she can help you get all the patient files transferred into the new practice-specific EHR software.

You Can Share Files More Easily 

As long as you have the patient's permission, you can share his/her file with their other doctors. This helps keep track of any other treatments or medications that the patient is taking for his/her internal issues. You will need to connect your system to external systems, and then check the file as "can be shared" so that the other doctors can open the file and read it. It also means that communication among the patient's providers is open, and everyone is on the same page with how to treat the patient. If you are part of a healthcare system, but operate an individual practice, your computer system will already be connected to other computers in the same healthcare system.

To learn more about internal medicine EHR softeware, contact a company like Chart Perfect.

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